The Embarrassing Reason I Started Going to the Gym

I’ve been going to the gym for approximately seven years now. It’s safe to say I’m addicted to the improvements in body image that it brings (self and non-self), no matter how fast or slow. Whilst this length of time is an adequate amount for a well-known gym-personality like Joe Delaney or Joe Fazer to inspire millions with a ‘body transformation’ video on YouTube, my transformation has been much more humble. Nevertheless, progress was made and I am very happy with that progress, so much so that I will continue to strive to make more progress for the foreseeable future. None of these gains would have been possible, however, had it not been for a fateful, humiliating moment for me in P.E.

It was the spring of 2018 and, as any 16 year old that doesn’t consider themself an alpha, I was self-conscious. It was a Friday so I was due to start it with Period 1 P.E. — a double whammy for any wanna-be pessimistic thoughts! We were warned by our PE teacher in the changing rooms that this lesson wasn’t going to be a normal PE lesson where we played football for an hour. No. Instead, today, we were going to do some athletics to “spice things up”. Being scrawny and not having much muscle on my frame, I never really looked forward to athletics – simply because I wasn’t good at it. As some of you may relate (we should be friends if so!), it was embarrassing being one of…